Common Hitachi/IBM hard disk failures

Hitachi 3.5" desktop hard disks are essentially IBM hard disk. In 2002, Hitachi had bought over IBM’s hard disk manufacturing division in 2002 and carried on the IBM's flagship Deskstar hard disk.

One common failure is the failure of read write head, typically represented by sudden development of loud knocking noise from the disk. Complete recovery is often possible if there is no further power on attempt by the user.

Some failures may start by system slowing down and deteriorate over short duration of time, finally resulting in total system crash.

In a number of cases, the disk may fail to spin up with light ticking sound. This is due to complete motor failure. Further power on may damage the motor controller chips on board.

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